A full numerical solution to the mixed lubrication in point contacts

A full numerical solution for the mixed elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL ) in point contacts is presented in this paper using a new numerical approa ch that is simple and moving at different rolling and sliding velocities. T he equation system and the numerical robust capable of handling three-dimen sional measured engineering rough surfaces procedure are unified for a full coverage of all the lubrication regions including the full film, mixed and boundary lubrication. In the hydrodynamically lubricated areas the Reynold s equation is used. In the asperity contact areas, where the film thickness is zero, the Reynolds equation is reduced to an expression equivalent to t he mathematical description of dry contact problem, In order to save comput ing time, a multi-level integration method is used to calculate surface def ormation. Sample cases under severe condition show that this approach is ca pable of analyzing different cases in a full range of lambda ratio, from in finitely large down to nearly zero (less than 0.03).